The NSC Boxset: Heart of Stone

by D H Sidebottom

  “I said . . .” I tried to bite back my fury with her. Everyone was looking at her, at us to be precise. “Get up Ava.”

  I watched seriousness cover her face. “Yes, Sir!” she brought her hand up to her forehead in an effort to salute me. However, I managed to hide the smirk when she poked herself in the eye, her brow creasing as she grumbled. “I would be fucking useless in the army.”

  For once, I agreed with my woman!

  She grinned up at me, her perfect lips parting into a beautiful smile. She was stunning and I found myself wondering how the hell I had managed to make her mine. She was hurting right then, I knew she was. Her heartache was potent, even when she was trying to overshadow it with laughter, but I could see it in her stunning eyes, the dullness and grief dimming their usual brightness.

  “Are you gonna join me on the hard floor Mason?” Her lips formed a kiss and she waggled her little finger at me, a reminder of the mind blowing orgasm she had given me this morning.

  Fuck, my dick did not just throb.

  “You know you want to.” She finished with an exaggerated wink.

  I fought against the smile that was dying to surface. Fuck, she was adorable. I just wanted to pull her in and hold her forever, scoop her up in my arms and shield her from every shit thing in her life.

  “Will you get up!” I grated out as I frantically tried to stop her declaring any more about our morning fun.

  “Aren’t you gonna be my armour in knight and . . .” Her brow creased as she stared at me. “No, that’s not right. My shining knight . . .” she frowned again.

  Fuck me, my heart leapt at how much I loved her. I wanted to scream it at her, shout from the fucking roof that I loved my woman but she was still in so much bloody trouble.

  I loomed over her, keeping my gaze away from her face so I didn’t alert her to my humour at the situation and hoisted her over my shoulder in a single movement. She squealed in delight as my hands accidently landed on her perfect arse.

  “Woohoo!” she cried when I carried her across the dance floor. “My hero!”

  She shouted something to Sam as I ploughed through the storm of people staring at us. Fuck them; it was my club and my woman.

  I jolted when Ava slapped my arse. Shit, that fucking came keen, she had quite a harsh slap and I sank my teeth into my lower lip. “Did you see that, baby? Kim ejaculate . . . no it’s not that, she uhh, what did she do Mason?”

  I rolled my eyes and blew out a steadying breath as I looked around us. There were still witnesses.

  “Spunked? . . . no that’s not it either . . . spanked! That’s it, she spanked all over Sam’s shoes . . . no . . .”

  Give. Me. Fucking. Strength!

  “Mason,” she grumbled. “What’s the word I need?”

  Death?

  I flung open the car door and bent forward, sliding her onto the back seat gently, making sure to cover her head so she didn’t whack it on the roof. . . . Although . . . my God, so tempting, that would quieten her down. I turned my back on her, cursing my wicked side as the enticing idea seemed a little too alluring right then.

  “Aww, baby, you’re so gentle with me.”

  It was a good job my back was turned. She therefore did not witness the humorous smirk covering my face. I was so lucky she couldn’t read my thoughts.

  “Mason,” she whispered as she tugged on the back of my jeans. “Mason.”

  I turned to her, glowering as she grinned at me. I was having so much trouble keeping mad at her, she was utterly the most loveable drunk I had ever known, and I was seriously having trouble resisting scooping her in my arms and smothering her in tiny little kisses.

  I leant towards her when she crooked a finger at me. “I fucking. . . . Wait,” she frowned with a twist in her lips as she tried to concentrate, her cute little tongue poking out of her mouth. “What was I gonna say?”

  So tempting. I was considering visiting the sex shop I knew was around the corner just to buy a bloody gag . . . and maybe a whip.

  “Mason,” she persisted. I closed my eyes for a second and pulled in a fortifying breath. “Psst, Mason.”

  “What Ava?” I sighed as I spun back round to her, pumping my fists to try and rid some of the excess adrenaline running through my system. She once again crooked her finger and I once again bent towards her.

  “Mason, come here.”

  I really thought I was here, but apparently not here enough for my annoyin . . . sorry, adorable woman.

  “I . . . love . . . you . . .” She grinned happily, very proud of herself. “Yay, you see I rembermember. . . . ooh I can’t say that word. That’s a hard word Mason, can you say reremememb . . . oh fuck it!”

  My lips betrayed me again but this time I didn’t hold it in as I slipped my palm over her cheek softly. “I love you too, Ava. Even though I am so pissed at you right now.” Her eyes widened to large orbs as she pleaded forgiveness humorously, reminding me of the cocker spaniel we’d had when I was a child.

  Oh Christ, she so knew how to play the game.

  “Aww baby, you can’t be mad at me, I’m really, really, really wanting your cock tonight.”

  Ahh Christ. All the humour evaporated and my heart ached for her. She’d just lost a baby, yet her mind was building walls and blocking it out. I couldn’t blame her really. I’d give anything to change the last week, give her back what she desperately wanted.

  “Don’t be sad, it’s good that I want your cock. It’s a very nice cock I might add.” She grinned.

  Of course it was. I was glad she’d noticed, I was rather proud of it myself.

  “I know what you’re smiling about,” Ava laughed as she poked me in the ribs, pulling me from the memory.

  I smirked at her, “And that is?”

  “You’re face shows your pride, so you have to be thinking about your cock.”

  I stared at her. Was I that fucking obvious?

  She nodded, “Yes, it’s that fucking obvious.”

  “Christ, we’re turning into one of those old married couples, those that can finish each other’s sentences and knows what the other is thinking.”

  She laughed loudly, her eyes twinkling happily, “Nah, it’s my soul telling me what your soul is thinking.”

  I gazed at her for a long time as her soft eyes loved me but then sorrow engulfed her and her eyes dipped. “What is it?” I asked as I ran my thumb softly over her short silky hair.

  She seemed troubled as she took my hand and gripped it firmly. “I know, Mason.”

  “You know? You know what, baby?”

  “About the children,” she sighed. “Why did you never tell me, Mason?”

  I frowned at her; completely lost which course her mind had swerved her towards this time. She was sometimes difficult to keep up with, her brain kicking her in many different directions as swiftly as it changed course again, leaving me behind many times.

  “Ava, I haven’t the foggiest what you’re on about.”

  She tightened her grip on my hand and pulled it to her mouth, kissing each finger gently. “It takes more than blood to be a father, and you have proved it for many years. You took on another man’s children and loved them as your own.”

  I stared at her as my heart seemed to fire electrical shots around my veins, each one causing a ripple effect through my muscles as each one seized up one after another until I was frozen to the spot and staring at her. “Are you saying . . . ?” I swallowed at the lump that had formed in my throat, “Umm . . . are you telling me that the twins are . . . Kade’s?”

  She stared at me silently as I started to break down slowly from the inside. “WELL?”

  She flinched but her brow furrowed. I was struggling to hold everything back. Twenty years. Had it all been a lie?

  Ava

  Okay, now I was confused. Rebecca had been certain. I knew we weren’t friends but I was damn sure she hadn’t been winding me up, the horror on her face when she had disclosed the secret had been very real.

 
“Umm.” I sighed and scowled at him, “Change the fucking face, mister. I’m as confused as you.”

  His eyes popped wide at my audacity, his mouth falling open as his forehead creased and his lip curled in confusion. “Baby,” he stated quite sternly. “Forgive me, but you have just insinuated that Katie and George aren’t mine. Would you like to tell me how I’m supposed to look right now?”

  “Well, looking like a bloody cod hoisted from the North Sea just as the holiday season hits isn’t the right look, right now.”

  I beamed at him when he growled and slipped onto my knees, cupping his face and planting a huge smacker on his lips. “I love your reaction to what I just insinuated, it tells me you haven’t a bloody clue what I’m on about.”

  “Oh you got that, huh?”

  “Chill out and let me explain, although it still doesn’t make sense.”

  “Really?”

  I sneered at him then sighed. “Why did you tell Rebecca you couldn’t have kids?”

  He frowned at me then recognition covered his face and he sighed in relief. “Ahh . . .” His face flushed and he looked sheepish, “Because when Rebecca got pregnant, I couldn’t have children and I was infertile.”

  “Oh, okay.” Could you go from being infertile to fertile? Fucked if I knew but apparently it was so.

  He sighed and rolled his lips, the memory of a time with him and Rebecca obviously hurting him. “I presume Bec told you about . . . us?”

  I nodded and smiled, giving him courage and my okay to how he was feeling. “Well, we’d been together . . . a while and you know me, Ava, I bloody hate condoms, when we first got together I never bloody used them.”

  “Mm-hmm, even though you used to swear to me that you did!” He grimaced when I quirked a brow at him.

  “I know, I know, I shouldn’t have lied but it seemed important to you, that you were the only one that I didn’t use them with.”

  “Well . . .”

  “Ava, I’m a bloke, I say things that I know will get me laid.”

  My mouth fell open and he laughed nervously. “Go on, before I hurt you” I urged.

  He nodded quickly, “Well, she never got pregnant and we were together a long time. It didn’t seem right so I had an idea already.”

  “So you got checked out?”

  He nodded and shivered, “Worst moment of my life, wanking in a cup whilst the cheesiest fucking porno played out on an old black and white TV.” He turned to me with a furious frown, “Have you ever watched a black and white porn film?”

  I shook my head slowly as I contemplated that question. Never mind!

  “Well let me tell you, it is not fun or even bloody real. Took me ages to come and when I did it was this little fucking blob that hit the bottom of the cup with a chilling slap.” He turned to me with pain in his eyes, “I’m sure it damaged me Ava. That moment has haunted my nightmares. Especially the nurses face when she peered into the bottom of the cup and squinted . . . she fucking squinted.”

  I nodded slowly, really unsure of what to say. “Why are you nodding?” he asked with a look of shock. I shook my head slowly which seemed to pacify him.

  “Anyway,” he continued, unaware of my astonishment. “The results came back and they said my sperm was hunky-dory, proper little toughies.” He smiled proudly and I wanted to post a status on Facebook telling everyone that my husband had tough little swimmers. He was so proud and I couldn’t have been happier. “However they were still concerned so they called me back in.”

  His face dropped and he shuddered deeply. He leaned towards me, his eyes searching the room for spies as he brought his lips to my ear. “I had a blockage, Ava.”

  “A blockage?” I whispered back.

  He nodded firmly as his eyes widened. “They had to . . .” he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “They had to operate.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay? Okay?” he scoffed. “Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to have your dick operated on?”

  “I guess not, Mason. I don’t have one.”

  He rolled his eyes and pursed his lips, “Mortifying, that’s what it is. Bloody horrific!”

  “Right.”

  He nodded seriously, “Not nice.”

  I exhaled heavily, “So why did Rebecca not know about this . . . operation.”

  He stared at me as though I’d lost my mind, “She knew I’d been tested but there was no way I was telling her they shoved pipes up my . . . fuck Ava, have you no consideration.”

  “Apparently not.” I shook my head, exasperated over his embarrassment. It was just a bloody operation. Fair enough on the most nicest part of him, but still.

  I huffed and nodded, “Right, well the poor love thought I knew you couldn’t have kids and she was mortified when she let it slip. She thought she’d ruined my life.”

  “Well at first she didn’t have a clue, the same as me. I thought I was infertile, I was infertile. But she found out I’d been to the hospital and . . . done the thing.”

  “So she just presumed. You should have told her.” I finished for him.

  He nodded sadly and let his gaze drop to the bed. “I was really cruel to her the last time I saw her.”

  I nodded, “I had gathered that when she came to the cottage loaded and ready for tearing me to bits.” He was quiet for a while as his grief tumbled from him. “She meant a lot to you.” I said for him, sensing his need to talk.

  He sighed and looked at me. “It’s strange. We were strange, our whole relationship was bloody strange. But she was always there, you know, always on her knees when my cruel side merged. She would always take my hatred and . . .” he paused and blew out a breath. “I’m not proud of how I treated her, Ava. I was cruel but it was almost like the worse I got with her, the harder she tried. She just took it, and that is . . . was quite the ultimate feeling of power. To hold that much influence over someone . . .” He swallowed as shame held him, his fingernails digging into the palm of his hand. “She loved me and I hurt her. That’s all I can say really.”

  “I tried to save her Mason, I tried . . .”

  “Hey,” he shook his head and pulled me onto his lap. “I know.”

  “If one thing has come from this, it’s that we made our peace.”

  He nodded and smiled, “She wasn’t a bad person, Ava. I just made her into one.”

  “You have a habit of doing that.”

  He snapped his head towards me and frowned, “I do?”

  “You do.” I nodded seriously. “I was never bad before I met you.”

  His eyebrow quirked as his lips twitched. “Really?” he laughed.

  “Yes!” I slapped at him. “I was angelic, your wicked ways just made me bad.”

  “Wicked, hmmm? You seem to have forgotten that Halloween . . .” My eyes widened and I blushed furiously. “Nope, you haven’t forgotten,” he laughed loudly.

  Halloween

  Marcy opened the door, her grin huge and her eyes already wonky. She was plastered. This should be fun. “Come in,” she urged as she opened the door wider. “You two don’t have to knock.”

  I glowered at her. “You can tell who we are?”

  He eyes roamed over us. “Your hair, Ava.” I grumbled a reply. Damn red curls. “And Mason, you are fucking awesome.”

  I turned to smile at him. I saw the hatred in his eyes through the little eye holes. “What I don’t understand,” he moaned with a muffled tone through the little mouth hole as he pushed past Marcy. “Is how Ava gets to be Catwoman and I’m . . . Well, what the fuck does Sully from Monsters Inc. have to do with bloody Catwoman? I see you didn’t come as Mike.”

  “Mason,” I sighed as I once more had to explain the situation to him. “I’m the kind of person who can’t wear bright green. I told you this, not with my red hair!”

  “Ava! No one would see your damn hair under the Mike costume.”

  I curled my lip at him, adjusted my eye mask and went in search of alcohol.

  * * *
>
  Two hours later, I was as drunk as Marcy and horny. Very horny. I spotted Mason across the room, his bum perched on a table as he spoke with someone I didn’t know. I sidled up to him, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as my grin forewarned him.

  “I’m horny, Mason.” I whispered in his ear but grimaced when I whispered too loud and the music track stopped to move onto the next. I grinned nervously at the people around me that had heard my declaration.

  “What? Now?”

  “Now,” I hissed back. “Your bloody costume is turning me on.”

  His head moved under his head piece to look over his Sully costume then back to me, his eyes narrow and questioning. “Have you been at Marcy’s coffee liqueur again, Ava?”

  I lowered my eyes from him and tapped my foot on the table leg. He sighed heavily, “I told you to never touch that stuff again.”

  “But, it’s nice,” I defended as I tugged on his hand.

  “Ava, we can’t here,” he hissed under his costume.

  “There’s bedrooms, Mason. Come on, please.”

  “What the hell?” he mumbled as I pulled him quickly across the room and up the stairs.

  I opened the first door I came to, darkness greeting me as I pulled him in quickly and shut the door behind him. “Oooh, so much fun,” I murmured as I felt my way over the thick fur of his costume.

  “Let me find a light switch Ava . . .”

  “No! It’s fun in the dark.”

  “Ava. . . . Shit, baby . . .” He groaned when I cupped his cock through the material and smirked when I got an instant rise out of him.

  “See, Sully likes me too.” I told him as I tugged the bottom part of the costume down to his thighs and trailed my finger over his erection through his shorts.

  “Sully likes you very much.” He replied as he tugged at his shorts and pulled them down to sit with his furry trousers. “Very much.”

  “Mmm-hmm,” I smirked at his hiss as I tickled the head of his cock with the tip of my tongue, lapping at the pre-cum that had already collected. His flavour burst into my mouth, heightening my drunken lust even further as I cupped his balls in my hand and scraped the underside with my nails.

  “Oh Christ,” he moaned when I took him in my mouth and sucked hard, my tongue still tickling the underside.